We carved our jack-0-lanterns! One was angry and the other was happy!
It was time again for the annual girls’ weekend. My Mom and all of her “girls” go away for a weekend to get into whatever trouble they can find. This year they went to Chicago. Dad and I decided to have our own boys’ weekend, so Eric and I met Grandpa D at the Mississinewa SRA in Peru, IN. Grandpa brought his RV, and Eric and I drove up to meet him. I was late getting home from work, so we were late leaving for the campground on Friday night. Soon after leaving the house, we discovered that US31 is under construction and has only a single lane running from Sheridan all the way through Kokomo. I had looked at a map briefly before leaving and printed directions from the park website, but the GPS did not recognize the address for the park; apparently it is too rural for such high tech gadgets. As a result, I neglected to try any detours, as US31 was the most direct route to Peru. It was also dark, and I had a very tired boy in the back seat. I also realized that any detour would involve remote back roads without convenient rest room stops. Anyway, what should have been no more than a 90-minute drive to go 64 miles lasted for over 3 hours! Eric was a real trooper, though. He hung in there without getting cranky or upset. He was too tired, I think 🙂 We arrived at the campground over 1 hour past Eric’s usual bed time, so he naturally fell out when his head finally landed on a pillow for the night.
When we awoke on Saturday morning, Grandpa cooked bacon, and I made pancakes for breakfast. We spent most of Saturday just lounging around and playing a brief game of croquet. We walked around the campground and stopped at 2 playgrounds for Eric to climb and run and slide. It was a perfectly lazy and relaxing Saturday. I think it was just what us boys needed. In the evening, Grandpa cooked hamburgers on the grill, and we roasted marshmallows over the camp fire. Eric roasted his first marshmallow that night, all by himself! I was quite proud. He did just as Grandpa and I instructed him, and his marshmallow came out perfectly toasted, plump, and gooey!
Sunday morning was busy as we fixed breakfast, cleaned up, packed up, folded down, and got ready to leave the campground. Eric rode in the front seat of the RV (Grandma’s seat) with Grandpa up to the dumping station. He was so excited to be sitting up there with Grandpa! He looked so proud to be sitting in a grownup seat! It was a fun weekend filled with memories. We all had so much fun, but I think Eric expressed it best when we finally said goodbye to Grandpa. Eric cried out loud. He balled his little eyes out. He was having so much fun, and he did not want it to end. He cried until he was strapped into his seat, and we were headed down the road. We shared some good times and made plans to do it again next year on girls’ boys’ weekend!
When we arrived at home. We quickly ate some lunch and got Eric dressed in his Halloween costume. Halloween was not until tomorrow, but the annual neighborhood parade was scheduled for today. We had just enough time to get ready. I helped Eric get into his pirate costume. We had picked it out earlier in the month during one of our trips to Menards. Mommy and I had looked at most of the usual stores for a pirate costume without luck. But Eric and I happened across 2 different pirate costumes at Menards. Eric chose the one with the captain’s hat. The parade (actually just a herd of costumed kids moving along the sidewalk) finished at the neighborhood playground where some of the parents had prepared snacks, treats, and activities for the kids. Eric played on the playground with some of the other kids, and then I told him that there was juice and cupcakes “over there”. He immediately jumped off of the playset and made tracks to the treats. He enjoyed a chocolate cupcake and some juice, then back to the playground!
We made it back home again and waited for Mommy to get home from girls’ weekend. She stopped to pick up dinner and arrived just as Eric was waking from his nap. It was a long busy weekend, so he really needed the rest. We sat on the living room floor for a picnic, as we each told stories from our weekend adventures while watching a Halloween special cartoon on TV.
Halloween! I got home from work with just enough time to help Eric into his costume, so we could go trick-or-treating before dinner. Eric enjoyed running from house to house and saying “trick or treat!” A few times, he even added a “gar!” in keeping with the pirate theme. After several houses, he complained that his treat bag was too heavy, so Mommy and I carried it from house to house for him, except the last bit of sidewalk up the front door. That was his important job! Miraculously, it was none too heavy when it came time to open it up for more treats!
